The National Marine Fisheries Service’s National Bycatch Strategy

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) launched its National Bycatch Strategy (NBS) in March 2003 in response to the continued fisheries management challenge posed by fisheries bycatch. NMFS has several strong mandates for fish and protected species bycatch reduction, including the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Despite efforts to address bycatch during the 1990’s, NMFS was petitioned in 2002 to count, cap, and control bycatch. The NBS initiated as part of NMFS’s response to the petition for rulemaking contained six components: 1) assess bycatch progress, 2) develop an approach to standardized bycatch reporting methodology, 3) develop bycatch implementation plans, 4) undertake education and outreach, 5) develop new international approaches to bycatch, and 6) identify new funding requirements. The definition of bycatch for the purposes of the NBS proved to be a contentious issue for NMFS, but steady progress is being made by the agency and its partners to minimize bycatch to the extent practicable.